It's been a tough time for Mark Arcobello. While manifestly better at hockey than every member of at least one entire line the Oilers have been running in recent days, he's been stuck in the press box as a healthy scratch. The official reason of late has been that a winning lineup deserves to be rewarded.

Thanks to Monday's loss, the Oilers no longer have a winning lineup. Which should mean that Arcobello is back in.

Earning Minutes

To borrow a line from Oklahoma City coach Todd Nelson, we all know how big Mark Arcobello is. His size would seem to be why he didn't get a shot on the Tambellini-run Oilers last year, and it's the only real explanation for why he isn't getting minutes this year. Everything else he's done has been pretty good:

Is one of four Oilers (with Perron, Nugent-Hopkins and Eberle) to score more than two points per hour five-on-five

Has the best on-ice scoring chance numbers of any Oilers forward

Has the best on-ice shot numbers (Corsi, Fenwick, etc.) of any Oilers forward

Kills penalties, averaging 1:35 per game with the Oilers down a man

Wins 52.2 percent of his faceoffs, second only to Boyd Gordon

Leads all Edmonton forwards with 41 hits

Seriously, he's been ridiculous. And to have him sit while guys who struggle to hit the 20-point mark at the AHL level keep getting minutes despite mediocre performances is indefensible.

If there is a bright spot to Edmonton's loss against the Blackhawks, it's that a very deserving player should find himself back in the lineup.

Jonathan Willis is a freelance writer.
He currently works for Oilers Nation, Sportsnet, the Edmonton Journal and Bleacher Report.
He's co-written three books and worked for myriad websites, including Grantland, ESPN, The Score, and Hockey Prospectus. He was previously the founder and managing editor of Copper & Blue.

Todd Nelson is a minor league coach, as Dallas Eakins was a minor league coach. With the current Oilers roster you would be calling for Todd Nelsons head in 6-8 weeks as head coach of the Edmonton Oilers. The last thing the Oilers need is to change coaches and systems annually. The Edmonton Oilers need continuity and consistency.

Ehrhoff has the scarier contract IMO. Dollars are OK but the term looks like a killer.

As a hockey trade Gags for Ehrhoff is an OK deal for us (not sure I love him, but that could just be the lingering Canucks stench), but Buffalo would seem to already have their quota of small-frys with Ennis and Hodgson. I'd suspect they would want one of the wingers - Yak perhaps, but in that case I'd want more back than Ehrhoff. Foligno would look good on our 3rd line. We throw in Potter or Nick Schultz and done deal.

The window for Hall, RNH, Yak and Eberle is the next 5 years. As long as the Ehrhoff contract looks good over that window, who cares what it looks like after that? Especially if you are the coach or the GM. Coaches last about 3-4 years and GMs 5-6 years. The bad part of the contract is the next guy's problem.

Players develop there full mass by age 27.
most are 3-7 years away from the 26-31yr peak age range.
3-7 years

You are setting your expectations too low.

Did you look at the hawks's roster? The have 3 first round picks playing, PLUS EIGHT players drafted after the 1st round in their line up. Six of those eight players drafted outside the 1st round are playing key roles on the team. Three of those 8 players were drafted since 2009.

How many players drafted outside the 1st round do the Oilers have on their team? One - Petry. How many since 2007? None.

So, why do the Hawks have depth and the Oilers very little? You can start with drafting. Macgregor was an improvement over his predecessors, but overall he is pretty mediocre.